Chemicals company leaves neighbouring businesses fuming

CHEMICALS firm Airedale has been fined after staff at a neighbouring company were exposed to Nitric acid fumes.

Last April, employees at Joda Freight, next door to the Keighley-based firm, were exposed to chemical fumes as the Nitric acid was transferred from a tanker.

An employee at the neighbouring firm was hospitalised with Nitric acid poisoning the next day after working outside where the fumes had escaped through Airedale’s vents.

Airedale was fined £12,000 with costs of £3,318.

Operations director at Airedale Daniel Fox said: “Airedale Chemical expresses genuine remorse for what was a completely isolated case in our long 42-year history.

“As a reputable manufacturer we strive for continuous improvement to all our systems and as such we have undergone a thorough review to every aspect of our on-site delivery protocol.

“In addition to this we have invested in excess of £300,000 into an external tank farm, relocating on-site product storage to optimise what is already an extremely safety conscious site in respect of our local neighbours, businesses and all visitors.

“Throughout the investigation our on-site Health & Safety team have been fully co-operative with all HSE requests and will continue to position the safety of both our staff and suppliers at the very forefront of all we do.”

Health and safety executive inspector Caroline Skingle said: “Airedale Chemical Company Ltd is a lower tier site under the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations by virtue of storage and use of hazardous chemicals including nitric acid.

“There is a high level of public concern about such sites and they should adequately control the risks that arise from their operations.

“On this occasion the company fell short of the required control standards for the safe transfer of corrosive nitric acid which resulted in people being affected off site.”